Caring for women with experiences of intimate partner violence : Nurses’ perspectives in Hanoi, Vietnam

Sammanfattning: Background: Intimate partner violence affects 30 percent of women globally and implies physical, sexual or psychological harm to a person, caused by their partner or ex-partner. There exists gender inequality in Vietnam that affects women negatively during their lifetime. Vietnamese nurses follow a similar ethical code to the International Council of Nurses, but are mostly focused on technical tasks at their workplace. Women with experience of intimate partner violence express that their caring needs are not being met. Aim: The aim was to describe registered nurses’ experiences of caring for women with experiences of intimate partner violence, in hospital settings in Hanoi, Vietnam. Method: Data was collected through a descriptive qualitative method with semi-structured interviews with eleven participants recruited from two hospitals in Hanoi, Vietnam. A qualitative content analysis was used for analysis and themes were formed. Results: One main theme emerged from the study: Nurses approach to their profession correlates with their view of life, emotions and actions when caregiving. Five sub-themes was formed from that theme: The relation between nurses view of life and women; Presence and absence of competence when encountering women with experience of intimate partner violence; The process of providing person centered care; Experiencing the emotional strain that emerges out of caring for women with experiences of intimate partner violence; Crossing professional boundaries in nurse-patient relations. Discussion: Vietnamese nurse’s caregiving is influenced by their view of life which causes them to give bias advice that focus on women’s responsibilities in society. The absence of guidelines results in nurses using their own moral compass when providing care for women with experience of intimate partner violence. The result will be discussed with Jean Watson’s term consciousness in her theory of human caring/caring science.